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Civic groups plan week of protests
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Members of the Taiwan National
Alliance and other civic groups speak during a press conference in Taipei
yesterday about a series of protests they are planning to stage over the next
seven days against the government’s signing of the cross-strait service trade
agreement.
Photo: Chen Chi-chu, Taipei Times
Consecutive protests against the opaque
signing of the cross-strait service trade agreement have been scheduled in
Taipei, with a rally in front of the Presidential Office tonight launching the
event-packed seven days of action.
The events, organized by various civic groups, are to be held simultaneously
with the extra legislative session that begins on Tuesday next week to pressure
lawmakers, who are set to screen the pact clause-by-clause and vote on the
agreement’s implementation, and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Leading the charge is a protest organized by the Taiwan Association of
University Professors (TAUP) from 5:30pm today on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei
to highlight people’s concerns about the opacity of the trade pact and its
potentially damaging impact on the local service sectors and their workers.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), former DPP
chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang
Kun-huei (黃昆輝) are expected to address the crowd tonight, according to the
organizers.
Following the initial action, a protest organized by a dozen civic groups,
including the Cross-Strait Agreement Watch, Taiwan Democracy Watch and the
Taiwan Labor Front, is to be held tomorrow night in front of the Legislative
Yuan from 6pm to 10pm.
Organizers said they opposed the opacity of the agreement and a possible push by
the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to fast-track the agreement directly to a
second reading in the legislature’s extra session.
They also demanded that the government hold public hearings on the potential
effects of cross-strait liberalization on each sector listed under the pact.
Pro-independence groups, among them Taiwan Nation Alliance, the TAUP, the World
United Formosans for Independence and the Taiwan Society, plan a four-day
demonstration to “besiege the legislature” between Monday and Thursday,
demanding the lawmakers to safeguard the democratic system in Taiwan and not
approve the agreement.
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